- Malta (⫽ˈmɒltə⫽ MOL-tə, ⫽ˈmɔːltə⫽ MAWL-tə, Maltese: [ˈmɐːltɐ]), officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe, located in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago between Italy, Tunisia and Libya. It lies 80 km (50 mi) south of Sicily and Italy, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia, and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya. The two official languages are Maltese, the only Semitic language with official status in a European country and the European Union, and English. The country’s capital is Valletta.
- Grus (constellation) (Wikipedia)
Grus (/ˈɡrʌs/, or colloquially /ˈɡruːs/) is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the crane, a type of bird. It is one of twelve constellations conceived by Petrus Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. Grus first appeared on a 35-centimetre-diameter (14-inch) celestial globe published in 1598 in Amsterdam by Plancius and Jodocus Hondius and was depicted in Johann Bayer’s star atlas Uranometria of 1603. French explorer and astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille gave Bayer designations to its stars in 1756, some of which had been previously considered part of the neighbouring constellation Piscis Austrinus. The constellations Grus, Pavo, Phoenix and Tucana are collectively known as the “Southern Birds”.
